I feel the itch to use numbers in my title.. so I am gonna go with it.. I have been feeling rather nostalgic today, and have been having flash backs of my past. I have gone through so many things, and at times I wish I could rewind and do all over again... (Well maybe not all of them there are those awful times in which I wish I could erase from my memory)... So here are 10 random things, that I feel I will always remember;

My earliest memory is the first time I read. Prior to that day I recall begging my elder brother and sister to sit and read for me. I still remember the sense of achievement I felt that day- the book I read was- I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT, at the beginning of this post i remembered clearly what the book was called..(I think it was called 'I can swim too' and now I am drawing a complete BLANK! When it comes back to me, I will come back and edit (If i remember to even do that,,, my mommy brain is getting the best of me!

The days we spent going to British club in Abu Dhabi with my parents. I used to love swimming in the pool, and remember how annoyed I used to get when my father FORCED us out into the gulf to swim. Looking back at it, it was lovely, it was nice to swim out (I was about 5 at the time, but our parents raised us to be great swimmers). I remember one clearly when my father had us swim out to this float that seemed soo far away as a child, and after seeing pictures more recently, really wasn't so far. Anyway, I got freaked out when I looked down and say all these fish in the water, my daddy was very mad at me, and swam out to take me back to shore... my dad got stung by a jelly fish that day, and i thought it would have been the end of being forced to swim.. (It wasn't).. lol.. I miss those days!

As a child I could never hold my bladder for too long. I never had issues with peeing in my sleep, my problem was peeing on myself when I was WIDE awake, and I knew what I was doing, I just had no bladder control... lol. I was with my maid/nanny at the bank, and we were lined up. Anyway, I felt the sudden urge to use the washroom, and we were nearly at the teller. I told her that I needed to use to washroom, and she told me to hold it as we were about to be served by the teller. I then stood and spread my legs, and peed right thre in the bank.. :) Needless to say she never got her banking done, and as my father was an executive at the bank, I was given special treatment and all was well :) (Its great being a kid.. we never used to got blamed for our actions.. lol)

My mother owned a jewelry store in Abu Dhabi. I used to LOVE visiting her, as we used to get special treatment from the stores surrounding hers. There was a food place I used to go to, and was always served whatever I want, free of charge. It was wonderful! (Now that I am older I am pretty sure my mother had a tab there, and probably paid for whatever we took.. I should ask her!)

My 6th birthday was spent in Cairo Egypt, and we had a maid living with us at the time. I remember my mother got our party supplies ready for us early, as she had to travel and leave us there with our grandmother while we stayed there for our holidays. On the day of our party (My elder sister and I have our birthdays 3 days apart, so we always celebrated together), we noticed all our party food was gone. The cake, the drinks, the chips, the sweets, EVERYTHING! It turned out the bloody maid gave everything away to the neighboring maids. You can imagine how heart broken my sister and I were. We were in tears, but my mom found out and had us taken to a hotel to have our party celebrations there. It was nice, but I have never forgotten that maid! urghhhh!

I remember on my 10th birthday, my father told me to get the gum from his bedroom (he would give us gum daily) as an adult its nothing big, but I remember as a child it meant the world to me! Anyway on that day, I went up and got the gum, and when I came down with the packet, he pulled 2 out, and told me my dear daughter, today is special, you have entered the double digits, and I will be giving you two pieces of gum. I was soo happy, it made my day, and believe it or not, it meant more to me then the gifts I got later that day! (Now try giving a 10 year old 2 sticks of gum now, they will probably throw it back at you and demand a mobile phone.. lol)

Every summer, we would get our seasons pass to Canada's wonderland, and we would go with our friends at least 3 times a week. I remember the drive there was short as we lived in Richmond Hill, but thre was a certain part of the drive where everything smelt like Manure. YUK. Anyway back to wonderland, I once went with my elder sister Huda, and my best friend at the time Tasha. Once we got to wonderland, my sister went off with her friends (and there were no mobiles to find one another) we just set a time to meet up at the gates. I remember being on those swings that go round and roun, and for some reason I was trying to find my big sis.. I starter calling out.. Hey Hooo, Hoooo, where are you! I didn't know what the word meant, and my friend was giving me these weird looks, wondering what in the world I was doing, and why I was screaming out Hooo! When we got off the ride, she asked me what i was doing, and I told her I was looking for my big sister. She asked why I was calling out HO, and didn't I know what it meant. I was like, no, I am just trying to find my sis. Anyway she gave me a quick lesson on what it sounded like I was saying, and what it meant.. lol.. Lets just say I was bloody embarrassed, and I have never called my big sis by that nickname ever again. (btw.. yes, I was one of those kids that didn't know what swear words meant until I was older- and now I see a 5 year old that knows more curse words then I do! What is this world coming to???!!!)

We were living in Kuwait - which is the country in which I hold the best memories, and which will always be close to my heart. One of my uncles came to visit us from Saudi, and it was wonderful, and we were surprised as we didn't know he was coming. Anyway he came to our flat, and told my sister and I to get ready. We quickly got ready, and he took us to the mall, and told us to take whatever we liked. So along with his daughter who was about 5 at the time, we each got several outfits, and some shoes, and accessories. I loved it. It wasn't simply because he took us shopping, it was also the element of suprise. He even let us pick out fun outfits for his daughter, and we made her leave the store with the outfit we purchased her. It was adorable. I never knew at the time, but it was to be one of the last time I would ever see my dear uncle (Allah yr7ama- May he rest in peace). I still have some of the things he bought me that day, and I can't seem to part with any of them...

This is a major fast forward, and is of me and my husband after we got married. My husband and I would go out every evening and just drive around the city of Riyadh, and he would show me different places. We would always stop by a coffee shop near our home, and drink our coffee while we were out driving. We would talk, and talk, and talk the entire time. We were more then just husband and wife, we were also best friends, and we talked about our pasy, our present, our future. Anyway, i miss those days very much, I now feel we barely talk except for the 'what do we need for the grocery store, and such topics' I miss my husband, I miss the talks we used to have, I miss joking and laughing about nonsense. He used to take me out to dr3iya and let me drive, he would take me out to the desert and let me drive on the sand hills, and then go and rent a 4-wheel bike, and we would race around until we got tired. I miss the adventures we used to have... have we grown old so fast?

Let me finish off with a wonderful memory, the birth of my babies. Each was amazing in its own way. I won't go into the actual labour, but will instead focus on the moments right after they were born, the joy I felt, the love that filled my heart the moment I laid eyes on the little being that grew inside me. It was beautiful, they both were. I remember holding them against my skin, and the amazing feeling of having ur little baby so close to you, and on you instead of inside you. I can't explain it, there is nothing that can ever erase how I felt those days, and to know that I have brought these little ones into this world, and I silently vowed never to let any harm come to them. I close my eyes, and feel the tears of joy in my heart. There is truly nothing like it, I love them so very much!

Those were completely random, and I will perhapys make it a point to try to perhaps fit in a once a month post on 10 memorable moments...

4 comments:

aw these are great! I remember visiting my mom for the first time at work. She used to be a lab assistant and I remember the first time she opened her locker, it was stuffed with snacks. That locker was like a treasure chest. I mean, I think that the food was actually glowing gold.